Here is chapter three, and things are finally starting to happen. Although it is shorter than the last two chapters this one took a little longer to write because of a combination of procrastination, art orders and a wasp sting that I had a bad reaction to. Joy of joys.
I don't own the characters, Kevin Smith does, blah blah blah. But I do now own a copy of Dogma on DVD which I bought from the internet for just under £4. Hooray!
As soon as Loki placed the key in the keyhole, the pale door easily opened and as he stepped through he found himself in a familiar New Jersey street – one which he and Bartleby had passed by on the way to the church.
As the events of that day were irrevocable, so were his horrific memories incessant.
Feeling apprehensive, he swerved around to look back for the door. But it had vanished.
The sun was slightly lower in the sky than midday, and thus the afternoon was beginning to cast shadows behind him.
As he surveyed the area around himself, he caught sight of Jay and Silent Bob – the tall, loudmouthed blond was preoccupied dealing weed to some teenagers, while the shorter man soundlessly pulled out a lighter, ready to prepare a cigarette.
Instantaneously Loki was nervous with dread, as he remembered the less than altruistic behavior shown by the pair during their previous encounter in purgatory.
How, and why, did those guys get in there anyway? thought Loki.
At that moment, Silent Bob noticed Loki's presence and, procrastinated away from his cigarette, which he held redundantly in his hand. He urgently jabbed Jay with his elbow, who was non-responsive at first, but then turned sharply towards the repetitive annoyance.
"Seriously, what the fuck's gotten into you lunchbox?"
Bob gestured towards Loki. Jay grinned.
"Well look at this fucker here! Larry's back!"
"How did you get into purgatory? And why?" Loki swiftly interrupted, despite his nervousness, to try and prevent the torrent of profanity he predicted would swiftly follow.
"Purgatory? What the fuck's that? Isn't it something about where dead babies go and shit? And why are you even here anyway? And what was up with those doors? I ain't ever gonna get a straight answer from that British motherfucker in the suit. He just told me and lunchbox to keep checkin' until you were awake. Some boring shit that turned out to be, but we figured it was important since it had somethin' to do with God. And we ain't risking going through shit like what happened back at that Church again when everything all goes wrong, no matter how much we want to kick your sorry ass for shoving Bethany like that back then, and for being a fuckin' chicken."
Silent Bob looked at Loki disdainfully then glanced back at Jay, nodding briskly in agreement. Jay continued. "I don't have all the answers, I don't even know why you ended up in wherever-the-fuck that was in the first place."
Loki was beginning to lose his temper. "Fuck you man, you don't have to know what purgatory is - all I wanted to hear was how you two of all people got in there! Just to give me some kind of an indication as to what the fuck is actually going on! Look – you mentioned someone telling you to check – was that the Metatron?"
Jay looked at Silent Bob. Silent Bob shrugged back at him.
"The Metatron? The Voice? Seraphim? Highest choir of angels? Any of this ringing some kind of bell?"
"Oh yeah, he did say something about that!" replied Jay victoriously, crossing his arms and leaning back slightly. "Gave us this stupid key as well. Thing's useless now. Try opening a lock with this piece of shit."
He held up what used to be a key which, still attached to a pewter-coloured chain, had seemingly changed from it's usual metallic state to that of a rather enigmatic material - a dark, crumbly substance similar to ash or charcoal.
To confirm this, Silent Bob tapped one of the ends and the entire object disintegrated into a powder which fell to the asphalt.
"Tubby bitch! What the fuck did you do that for!"
Loki knew by now that this was all the information he would be able to glean from the prophets, and turned away to wander the streets of Jersey truly alone – something which he hadn't been in a long while.
The sun was even lower now, the sky painted with a golden and scarlet. The colours of the sky almost reminded him of the Dead Sea sunset, one which Loki and Bartleby had become accustomed to, as they were often sent by God herself to work in places near the shore of the lake. Light had scattered off of crystal salt on the shore, and glittered on the barren but beautiful waters whose azure tints juxtaposed the sandy, terranean colours of the surrounding arid landscape.
But this wasn't the old days of the Dead Sea, and there was no one with him this time. No one at all. He had at first considered heading somewhere, but forgot where he had in mind a long time ago, and was with no intention of finding a goal.
After many hours of walking, Loki staggered along the side of a long, wide road edged with fields and natural scenery, staring into the darkening distance as the sun set.
Then, he was startled slightly by something, far off in the distance. A dark silhouette of a human seemed to form, but it was unclear to make out which direction they were going in, let alone their identity. And the fading light made it all the more ambiguous. It was difficult to distinguish whether or not the shadow was even a person at all, or merely some kind of mirage, an illusion of the dusk coupled with many hours of walking.
As he continued, the vague shape become the form of a man. This worried Loki – he hadn't seen anyone along this stretch of road since he began his aimless pilgrimage across New Jersey. He set his eyes on them, and concentrated on focusing to try and read their identity and intentions as much as he could. Their head was lowered slightly as they stared at the ground just in front of them, much how Loki had spent a majority of his journey until this point.
The sun cast it's last few rays out over the land, and the unidentified man looked up, then noticed Loki walking there in the remaining light. His eyes widened as he caught sight of Loki.
The former angel of death gasped. Panicking, he rapidly turned and sprinted in the other direction, instantly acting on the fear and confusion that coursed through him. Was he running after him? He couldn't turn back to check... Suddenly his already weak legs gave way, and the velocity of the fall carried him several feet before Loki crashed into the ground and was almost instantly jolted into unconsciousness.
But not before he faintly heard a familiar voice shouting, "LOKI!"